FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT PROSTITUTION - PAGE 2

OAKLAND, Calif. ? In the early morning hours, Dee Dee Perry gets in her car and does "spiritual drive-bys" along International Boulevard in East Oakland, Calif. She drives up and down the busy corridor known as the "track" looking to proselytize to prostitutes. That's exactly how Perry was saved nearly 20 years ago from her life on the streets when church workers convinced her to give up prostitution and to kick her drug habit. "I will pop a U-turn in the middle of the street," says Perry, 45. "I have to let them know that there is hope and they don't have to live like this.

SOUTH BEND -- South Bend attorney Tony Zirkle will run for Congress this year -- his second attempt at the job. Zirkle, a Republican, ran for the Republican nomination in the 2006 primary but lost to then-U.S. Rep. Chris Chocola, the incumbent. Chocola was defeated in the general election later that year by Democrat Joe Donnelly, who now represents Indiana's 2nd District. Eliminating pornography and prostitution was a centerpiece of Zirkle's 2006 campaign, and he gained attention by shredding a copy of Playboy magazine featuring Marilyn Monroe on the cover.

CASSOPOLIS -- Six people who worked at an adult entertainment club in Edwardsburg were arraigned Thursday on various counts of prostitution and drug violations, the Cass County Prosecutor's Office said. Five women and one man were arrested earlier this week after a two-month investigation at Escape Reality, a strip club on Daily Road. The Cass County Sheriff's Office served a search warrant at the club on Wednesday evening. The sheriff's department and the Ontwa Township-Edwardsburg Police Department were tipped off to possible drug and prostitution activities at the club by neighbors, police said.

ELKHART -- Terry Kindig is fed up with the amount of prostitution taking place in her neighborhood. The wife of Elkhart City Council President Jerry Kindig has lived in her West Franklin Street home for eight years and says prostitution has been a problem for the past six years. It's been a huge problem for the last two years, she maintains. "This is the gateway to the city," Kindig said of her near-west side neighborhood. "We shouldn't have hookers and prostitutes walking on the streets into the gateway to the city.

ELKHART -- Terry Kindig is fed up with the amount of prostitution taking place in her neighborhood. The wife of Elkhart City Council President Jerry Kindig has lived in her West Franklin Street home for eight years and says prostitution has been a problem for the past six years. It's been a huge problem for the last two years, she maintains. "This is the gateway to the city," Kindig said of her near-west side neighborhood. "We shouldn't have hookers and prostitutes walking on the streets into the gateway to the city.

SOUTH BEND -- Police arrested a man and a woman suspected of indecent exposure after a woman told officers she saw them engaged in oral sex in a city park. South Bend police said the woman reported she was with her young daughter near Ravinia Park, near Lebanon Street on the southeast side of the city Tuesday just after 2:30 p.m. when she saw the two in a car. Officers arrived and saw the sexual act, police said. The man, 70, told police he paid the woman $20. The woman, 47, was previously arrested for prostitution, police said.

Police and anti-prostitution advocates intent on stopping Craigslist prostitution are closely watching a federal court case in Chicago. The Cook County, Ill., sheriff's department was spending so many resources investigating prostitution on Craigslist that in March it filed suit in federal court, asking a judge to both force the Web site to shut down its erotic services section, and to reimburse the department for its costs in investigating the prostitution...

Arraignments are scheduled Thursday for six people arrested late Wednesday night at Escape Reality, an adult entertainment club, on Dailey Road in Edwardsburg. The names of those arrested will be released after their arraignments, according to a news release from Cass County Sheriff Joe Underwood. Charges against them include lewd and lascivious conduct, prostitution, delivery of cocaine and ecstasy. A two-month investigation by the Cass County Drug Enforcement Team and Michigan Liquor Control Commission resulted in the arrests at the club.

EDWARDSBURG -- Cass County public health officials are anonymously tracking down men who may have had contact with an Edwardsburg stripper. Melissa "Star" Goodman, 23, is the first person ever charged in Cass County with HIV endangerment, according to Prosecutor Victor Fitz who brought similar charges against a woman 14 years ago in Muskegon, Mich. Goodman on Tuesday was arraigned on charges that she engaged in sexual contact on three occasions without telling her partners that she has tested positive for HIV, a precursor to AIDS.